Huawei announces US$442m in Africa deals

Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies, China's largest homegrown telecommunication developer, announced Saturday it had won contracts worth a total of US$442 million to supply equipment in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.

Huawei, which competes with the likes of Motorola, Ericsson and Nokia, said in a statement the deals included a range of products such as mobile phones, optical transmission, switches and routers.

Last week, the company signed two agreements with Zimbabwe's state-owned fixed-line and mobile operators worth a collective US$322 million.

It also won a US$34 million contract from Kenya's biggest mobile operator, Safaricom, to reconstruct and update its Intelligent Network, and an US$80 million deal to provide GSM base stations to Nigeria's Vmobile.

Huawei, which dominates the Chinese telecommunication market with a 76 percent share, said it beat other companies competing for the contracts with a "good performance price ratio."

In the past couple of years, Huawei has increased its overseas expansion for new revenue sources, especially in the developing world. Last month, the company said it planned to more than double its US$1 billion in international sales in 2003 to US$2 billion this year.

It also predicted its exports to jump further to as much as US$4 billion next year.

Huawei's archrival ZTE Corp., based in Shenzhen and already listed in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, also announced its ambition for overseas expansion earlier this year.

However, ZTE's overseas markets are limited to less developed regions such as Africa, Russia and Southeast Asia, while Huawei has made significant progress in Europe, selling to global giants including BT Group and France Telecom.

Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies